WSU-Downtown Streetcar Update

As many residents of the trolley district already know, there is a current study taking place to determine a preferred mode and route for a new transit corridor between downtown Ogden and Weber State University.  This new transit corridor represents a major investment in our community, and the resulting system will impact growth and development for decades to come.

The first step in this study is the completion of an alternatives analysis by an independent consultant, Wilbur Smith Associates.  This study involves meetings with representatives from Stakeholder groups including Ogden City, Weber State, Mckay Dee Hospital, Weber County, UDOT, UTA, and the Wasatch Front Council of Governments.  The study was initiated earlier this year with two public open-houses.  Since that time, the Stake Holder Committee has held multiple meetings to discuss various alignment options and to work toward making a decision on a preferred route.  Once a decision on a preffered route is made, an EIS will be completed detailing costs and impacts of the proposed route that will then be submitted to FTA for funding.  There are a number of issues to be considered:

Cost - Cost is important, but it is not necessarily about choosing the least expensive route.  The route that creates the best return on its initial investment (i.e. ridership and economic development potential) will be favored by FTA.  Factors that effect cost include mode (streetcar is the most expensive, but is also shown to create the greatest economic return) and route (the physical condition of the road that will have to be altered to include the transit improvement).  Utility conflicts can affect costs, as well as right-of-way conditions for State (UDOT) roads.

Travel Times - Because the purpose of the transit corridor is to connect front-runner to WSU, travel times are a critical component.  Ultimately the chosen route and mode must operate efficiently between endpoints.  This means a balance between the number of stops and turns in the system, and the amounts of dedicated travel lanes vs. shared travel lanes. (This also relates to cost because while dedicated travel lanes are faster, they are also more expensive).

Community/Economic Development/Ridership - This component is a bit more interperative than cost and travel times, which are easier to predict.  The economic development potential of a route or mode is based on the private investment along a corridor that will occur as a direct result of the additional ridership brought by a permanent transit investment.  Obviously there is a balance between the amount and types of commercial areas that will positively be affected by a transit improvement, and how people are interfacing with the streetcar.  Ideally a streetcar route should service mixed use development, residential, retail, office, etc. to optimize opportunities for both ridership interface and commercial destinations.

Based on the initial public scoping meetings there was a clear preference amongst community members for a 25th Street Streetcar Alignment, ourselves included!  Residents of Ogden have an innate understanding of the city's overall landscape.  We have also worked diligently to plan for and promote revitalization of the urban core, while also working to re-shape our image to a clean, green, active, bike, and pedestrian friendly community.  A 25th Street Streetcar would be a catalyst for such revitalization, working to restore the community from the very same corridor that it grew out of at the end of the 1900's!  Most importantly, we, the residents of Ogden and Weber County, are the client for this project.  Our tax dollars are being used to build a system that we will ride.

Unfortunately, somewhere between these early public scoping meetings and next week's final stakeholder meeting to make a decision on the preferred alignment, the study went off-track!  In a report released yesterday, the consultants are recommending a 36th street alignment, in drastic opposition to the common sense and insight of the community at large.

Early on in the Alternatives Study, it became apparent that the Stakeholders were sympathetic to the community's desire to have a 25th Street Streetcar Alignment, but the State Agencies and the project Consultants have been pushing them away from this route.  In the beginning, all of the data seemed to prefer the 25th street east-west route.  However, as the study progressed UDOT was (and still is) opposed to the inclusion of a transit corridor along any portion of Harrison Boulevard (based on long-range plans to widen the corridor to 7-lanes!).  UTA also seems to be shying away from the 25th Street corridor, replacing the project manager for the study when he suggested that the group needed more time to adequately consider all the information!

The next meeting is going to be on Thursday, November 19th, at 1:30p.m, at the Weber County Building.  This meeting is open to the public to observe, but not comment.  Let's contact the Stakeholder Committee now and let them know that we support a 25th street alignment, ask for more and better information, and that they not let UTA and UDOT bully them into a consensus.  Let's get this study back on-track!

Click here to read and sign our petition!